What is the 100 Project? The 100 project is about the small business owners in Detroit neighborhoods who are working 10-12 hour days as the primary employee, with no foot traffic to the business, no marketing budget, and no website. The idea of 100 project is to transform small businesses in Detroit by getting 100 Detroit neighborhood businesses on the grid.

100 Project began when a team of 3: John Maeda, Justin Dunn, and myself decided to create our first website and to determine the minimal viable product. Our goal was to establish a strong proof of concept that we could scale to the remaining 98 websites.

The seed for Tina’s new business sprouted fourteen years ago in her very own yard. Tina Castle had always loved the outdoors. She started to plant and cultivate her own garden and neighbors started to take notice. When her neighbors began to ask her to plant for them too she said yes.Over the years Tina grew her landscaping company to about 30-40 customers. She’d handle the design, the planting, and the maintenance. Then, she decided it was time to graduate into a new business: The Garden Bug which is located at 19801 Grand River Avenue in the Historic Grandmont Rosedale community.The Garden Bug is a seasonal garden center located in the Rosedale Park community. Specializing in indoor and outdoor gardening supplies, gardening education, and organic gardening options. The Garden Bug carries exclusives patio set, a variety of rare perennials, and one of kind pottery from the Pottery Patch.

I started helping out at my family's restaurant at the age of 10 years old where I understood the meaning of the Chinese saying: “huet hon qian” which directly translates to “blood, sweat money."

Working at a restaurant taught me that every penny was earned by dripping sweat and by a sore body from long hours and constant movements. There were many moments when I was exhausted from the work, but the good food, especially the Kung Pao Chicken, always fueled me up! There were other moments where I would also glance over to my mom and wonder how she was able to work 7 days a week and at least 12 hours a day and still smiled brightly to her customers, employees, and to her family, to me.

As a first-generation Chinese American, my mom chose her profession not because she was passionate about the food industry, but because she wanted her daughters to be able to achieve their hopes and dreams for the future. As a second-generation Chinese American and first-generation college student, I needed to pursue my passions wholeheartedly and to reach success with the opportunity that my mom had provided me - an opportunity that no one provided her.

I now graduated from the University of Michigan where I concentrated in Marketing and Strategy at the Ross School of Business. Throughout my four years of college, my background in entrepreneurship was my foundation upon which I have been able to propel myself and to reach levels of success I have never imagined. At the University of Michigan, I had the opportunities to participate in 3 organizations: alpha Kappa Delta Phi, China Entrepreneur Network, and Best Buddies, to have internships abroad as well as during the school year and in the summer, and last but not least, to work at Rebrand Detroit, where I learned many valuable marketing skills from Hajj Flemings that can prepare me for my job post college. After graduation, I'll be working for Cardinal Health as a senior analyst for the Marketing Emerge program, a program that allows me to switch to a different marketing role every year for 3 years.

This was all made possible through my mom's hard work. Witnessing her work ethic and the sacrifices she made for us has inspired me to constantly challenge myself and to become a better me.

“What are you going to do with 89,440 hoursof your life?” - Hajj Flemings

China Entrepreneur Network was honored to invite Hajj Flemings, CEO of Rebrand Detroit and Brand Camp University, to speak at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan on Thursday, March 30, 2017.

After 10 years of working as an Engineer for a major car company, Hajj Flemings decided to make a major career change to become an entrepreneur in the city of the Detroit. His efforts and his passion to revitalize his hometown, Detroit, through marketing was inspiring to students like us. Through this event, Hajj taught us that instead of working for someone else’s dream, we should strive hard for our own. Moreover, he said that being an entrepreneur, it is going to be rough patches and there wouldn’t be a set schedule, but as long as you’re passionate about the business, the hard work will pay off.

We are very thankful for the lessons Hajj Flemings provided during the event. Hope your business goes well.

Jason’s friends began to ride the city together regularly on just two wheels. Soon they opened it up for anyone to join them on their regular bike rides.

"We started to feel the positive energy and change. We wanted to start an event to share this energy with others." - Jason Hall Founder of Slow Roll

Jason and his partner Mike both come from background in promotions. It wasn’t hard for them to spread the word about Detroit’s regular bike ride. The regular ride soon grew to hundreds, now up to thousands in the city of Detroit coming together to explore the city and Slow Roll Detroit was born.

The first nine businesses in the 100 Project to launch new websites went live today, March 9, 2017.

Nine Detroit small businesses have new websites created pro bono by developers from San Francisco-based Automattic (the for profit arm of WordPress), part of a citywide initiative to get 100 businesses online by 2nd quarter of this year. The new websites were created during a 48-hour Super Bowl Weekend blitz as part of the 100 Project, program of Detroit-based Brand Camp University in partnership with WordPress and TechTown Detroit.

Brand Camp University’s mission is to help businesses tell their story via brand strategy, workshops and mentoring. Brand Camp’s 100 Project seeks to eliminate the digital gap that exists in so many communities that the Super Bowl weekend pilot project aimed to establish a digital presence for neighborhood businesses increasing their accessibility and their bottom line. The genesis of this project was seeded by the Knight Foundation’s Knight Cities Challenge.

“Getting the privilege to partner and learn from Alicia* and Kay** and their Detroit-based businesses have made me rethink how the Web needs to work, for *their* work.”

A talented WordPress team of developers flew in from around the country help put a diverse group of Detroit neighborhood businesses on the grid. The selections not only represented a variety of industries (arts, eateries, apparel, etc.), but also represented diverse ethnicities and economic levels. The Rebrand Detroit team facilitated a tour using a colorful art bus from The Detroit Bus Company, giving a glimpse of some Detroit landmarks. The developers then had the opportunity to tour the businesses and meet the business owners behind the websites they would craft to introduce or reintroduce them to the digital world. The next forty-eight hours were used to create websites, connect, exchange ideas and create a dialogue focused on ideas on how to continue to improve the presentation and reach of their brand.

“More than 2.4 billion people use the internet every day, and some 90% of those have purchased something, or contacted a company, online in the last 12 months,” says Hajj Flemings, founder of Brand Camp.” There is a digital divide that inhibits businesses without websites to benefit from this e-commerce reality. Forty-six (46%) of small businesses in underserved neighborhoods are disconnected digitally. We aim to change that.”

Seven of the nine businesses are clients in TechTown’s SWOT City program, which provides customized, one-on-one consulting for small businesses in Detroit’s neighborhoods.

The 100 Project will be scaling with the assistance of community partners to help more businesses get on the grid. If you would like to partner with this great effort, contact Hajj Flemings at speak[at]hajjflemings.com.

*footnote or link to Alicia’s business “Motor City Java House” — a neighborhood coffee shop

**footnote or link to Kay’s business “Art in Motion” — a community ceramics studio

Rebrand Detroit Stories is an original series, a collection of stories, short films, talks and physical experiences of Detroiters who are fueling Detroit’s resurgence. This series takes a look behind the scene of our city and introduces people to everyday citizens whose hustle, resilience and passion are impacting the place they live, work and play. These stories, highlighting people who refused to accept the national narrative, are birthed out of work they are doing in neighborhoods all across the city from Grandmont Rosedale, West Village, the Hope District and beyond. We believe that a city’s brand is comprised of its people and these creative pieces aim to inspire regular citizens to do what is in their heart and help build a city for all people.

Rebrand Detroit launched last year because the Knight Foundation decided to take a bet on my idea to innovate Detroit neighborhoods. As much as I love my city there are times that I have a love hate relationship with Detroit. I hear the stories of people who are not from Detroit who are making Detroit, Detroit. I wanted to do a series about people who couldn’t afford to buy a skyscraper but were doing amazing work in neighborhoods. Gritty entrepreneurs fighting the challenges of building a business in neighborhoods with no foot traffic with major throughways running through them and so Rebrand Detroit stories was birthed.

Rebrand Detroit Stories is an original series, a collection of stories, short films, talks and physical experiences of Detroiters who are fueling Detroit’s resurgence. This series takes a look behind the scene of our city and introduces people to everyday citizens whose hustle, resilience and passion are impacting the place they live, work and play. These stories, highlighting people who refused to accept the national narrative, are birthed out of work they are doing in neighborhoods all across the city from Grandmont Rosedale, West Village, the Hope District and beyond. We believe that a city’s brand is comprised of its people and these creative pieces aim to inspire regular citizens to do what is in their heart and help build a city for all people.

Our original list of stories are about barbers, a bookshop, a coffee shop that is closing it’s doors, and a guy who had a dream of starting a bike ride.

Inspired by my CNN Black in America 4: The New Promised Land Silicon Valley story.

All across America there is a revival of urban cities. There a vibrancy that reverberates from the commercial corridors of the Midtown and downtown areas in cities like Detroit. Once you get a mile or two away from the main corridor, the energy,opportunities, business density and access to capital dissipates. Can the city of Detroit expand economically and battle gentrification at the same time? How can we ensure there is equitable development in neighborhoods with underserved commercial corridors, disconnected business owners and existing residences. We believe it is possible.
“Detroit’s future requires connecting the worlds of design,

technology and innovation to neighborhoods.”

– Hajj Flemings Founder of Rebrand Detroit

Rebrand Detroit, a civic design and brand project that is led by Brand Camp University, is looking to tackle this difficult problem. The Knight Foundation launched the #KnightCities Challenge in 2015 and Hajj Flemings, Founder of Brand Camp University, was selected as 1 of 32 winners out of a pool of over 7,000 applicants to launch this big idea. It is a multi-disciplinary collaboration with the residents, community stakeholders, and local government.

Why is Rebrand Detroit important to the future of city of Detroit? We believe creative placemaking can’t be limited to one segment of the city but that every neighborhood could benefit if design, technology and innovation were integrated to the DNA of Detroit neighborhoods. This initiative will help brand the great things that are already happening in neighborhoods.

The Four Elements of Rebrand Detroit

To help carry out the mission of Rebrand Detroit we have developed four basic elements of this project called SEEE.

Storytelling – Share stories of the neighborhood and its businesses, including their progress during Rebrand Detroit.

Engagement – Community engagement with residents and the business community

Can rebrand Detroit be a catalyst for the city of Detroit? Can we help change the narrative of Detroit and help drive the economic development of Detroit into neighborhoods? We know these ideas only work if residences and business owners have a say. This idea involves the residents, community stakeholders and local government. Once proven that this idea can work in one neighborhood, it can be scaled for other Detroit neighborhoods and other cities around the world.

The idea of tech accelerators like Techstars and YCombinator is sexy but could it work for neighborhood businesses. Y Combinator has 1,000+ companies with a valuation of $65B and Techstars has 762 companies with market cap of $5B. These accelerators attract highly educated founders who can move to Silicon Valley, Boulder or the various cities the accelerators exist in and dedicate 3 to 6 months to focus on their idea.

How do tech accelerators translate to neighborhood businesses? They don’t and they weren’t designed to. The retail brick and mortar businesses that exist in urban cities with underrepresented owners who are typically disconnected from the capital resources and the density that exist in midtown or downtown areas that drives sales. Their ideas as constructed aren’t scalable, there is no funding from family and friend’s and they don’t have teams (the business owner is usually the primary employee) with complementary skills, but their ideas are important to a city. I am not throwing shade at Techstars or YCombinator I personally know partners and founders of these organizations and I love what they are doing.

Common Challenges for Local Neighborhood Businesses:

Limited Bandwidth: Oftentimes, owners are their only full-time employee working 10-12 hour days, so they spend the majority of their time on core business operations, such as finding & negotiating with suppliers. They are also active in their community during non-work hours—renting out their space for community events, teaching around the community, etc.

No Financial Resources: Owners don’t have the resources to hire additional full-time or part-time employees or can’t justify the cost of specialized help (e.g. PR person, Corporate Accounts person). Typically, owners do not have an in-house social media marketing manager, corporate accounts manager, publisher relations manager, etc. that are needed to drive branding & marketing operations

Automobile Traffic Challenge: Traffic in commercial corridors like Grandmont/Rosedale, Livernois Avenue of Fashion and Corktown (all in Detroit) need traffic calming measures to help the businesses in their communities. The cars are driving 35-55 mph and the businesses have more poor signage that don’t have a lot of visibility.

Lack of Foot traffic: Foot traffic is a major barrier for sustainability with neighborhood businesses. Primarily because many neighborhood business corridors aren’t walkable, density of businesses, there is poor lighting and safety is an ongoing concern.

Design Thinking in Neighborhoods

Really interesting things can happen when empathy exist and a design thinking approach to complex problems is utilized. We are tackling this problem as a part of my Rebrand Detroit project which is funded by the Knight Foundation’s – Knight Cities Challenge. We are working on a learning experience that infuses a mix of…

Collaborative and interactive learning

Minimal group sessions with business owners

One-on-one coaching (during their downtime)

Micro learning: Digitally delivered content

The ultimate goal is to help business owners build awareness and drive revenue growth which is a challenge.

DETROIT — The RE: Brand Detroit Initiative by Brand Camp University was selected as a 2015 recipient of the Knight Foundation’s City Challenge.

“We are so honored to be a winner and have the opportunity to work and have a lasting impact on Detroit,” says Hajj Flemings, CEO of Brand Camp University. “We’ve seen great success with our Brand Camp Summit, working with corporations, small businesses and non-profits and look forward to expanding to Detroit neighborhoods.”

The RE: Brand Detroit Initiative is one of 32 civic innovators who will share $5 million in civic projects.